Mechanism (philosophy)
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In philosophy, mechanism is the theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by laws of nature. It's the opposite of vitalism, which claims organisms have "vital forces" which aren't physical.
The doctrine of mechanism in philosophy comes in two different flavors. They are both doctrines of metaphysics, but they are different in scope and ambitions: the first is a global doctrine about nature; the second is a local doctrine about human beings and their minds, which is hotly contested. For clarity we might distinguish these two doctrines as universal mechanism and anthropic mechanism.
See also
- Automaton
- Descartes
- Digital philosophy
- Neural Darwinism in relation to anthropic mechanism
- Philosophy of physics
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